The most helpful favourable review

The most helpful critical review

5.0 out of 5 starscouples Retreat
I loved this movie. It was very funny and had some serious notes to it. The yoga instructor was too funny. Vince Vaughn is nice to look at.

Published 20 months ago by Chicky

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 starsA bit of a downer
I salivated a bit when I saw that the creative team of Vaughn, Favreau and Billingsley had cooked up another comedy. I was expecting another Swingers or Made. Instead I got a romantic comedy type film that wasn't really all that funny.

The cast is normally awesome, and although Jason Bateman is usually great, his character here is just so annoying. Kristen...

I salivated a bit when I saw that the creative team of Vaughn, Favreau and Billingsley had cooked up another comedy. I was expecting another Swingers or Made. Instead I got a romantic comedy type film that wasn't really all that funny.

The cast is normally awesome, and although Jason Bateman is usually great, his character here is just so annoying. Kristen Bell, as his wife, was equally annoying. Malin Ackerman (Watchmen) was good as Vince's wife, but Kristin Davis (Sex & the City) didn't really do much of anything. Faizon Love (Made) was funny. Jean Reno (The Professional) was totally wasted as a stereotypical French new age guru.

The concept here is that Bateman and Bell found that their marriage was coming to an end and decided to sign up for a couple's retreat to fix their marriage. The only catch is that they can't afford it unless they do it as a group rate, so everybody is along for the ride. Even Faizon Love is coming, who's already split from his wife and is bringing his new girlfriend, the 20 year old Trudy, instead. They are promised good times, lots of jet skis and drinking.

I'm sure you know what happens next. Turns out that they have to participate in compulsory couples counselling. No jetskis, no drinks, no fun. I guess when you watch a movie with 8 people having no fun, the viewer in turn has no fun. There were some highlights here, I enjoyed seeing Vince Vaughn getting circled by sharks, and John Michael Higgins was really funny and annoying as a counsellor. Peter Serafinowicz (Shaun of the Dead) is deadpan dry as Sctanley, the guy who runs the retreat. Blink and you might miss Temuera Morrison (Attack of the Clones) as Jean Reno's sidekick. You may also notice Ken Jeong (The Hangover) as a counsellor.

However, the movie is predictable, a bit dry, and not something you'd watch to feel good. The final highlight for me was a Guitar Hero dual between Vaughn and Serafinowicz, but even that felt like I'd already seen it before (Paul Blart: Mall Cop anyone?).

A couple wants to see if their marriage is worth saving and want to go to a retreat for that purpose. The Retreat is too expensive so they invite there friends to participate. The friends only have to go and have fun. Yeah sure. They never anticipated a lesson in etiquette, tantra yoga, and an agenda that includes Jean Reno at his best.

We already know the formula. Today it is usually just a couple where one partner is either a rat or just out to prove something at the other partner’s expense. There have also been couples interactions as in “The Four Seasons” (1981) with Alan Alda. However it is not the formula as much as how the story flows and the actors pull it off. There may be a few twists and turns that add to the fun.

The location is Bora-Bora, Tahiti, French Polynesia, and really looks inviting in Blu-ray.

Earning over 160 millions in theaters Couples retreat looks seems like a good idea on paper and even a potentially great comedy however, the resulting film is not as good as maybe it could have been. Vince Vaughn co-wrote the script and I feel that it was much better than the film turned out to be. Despite a talented cast of actors the movie is not as fun to watch as it should really be and leaves much to be desired. I got a few laughs out of Vaughn and Jon Favreau especially and liked Kristen Bell's acting as always but it seems that even those actors couldn't make anything great out of the script. I thought I'd ignore the negative reviews given to this movie give it a chance and enjoy it for what it was.

Jason and Cynthia invite other couples to their house to give them a presentation on Eden Island to interest them in a vacation. They announce that things aren't going so well with their own couple and are considering divorce; this will be a therapeutically vacation to them and is a chance for them to turn things around. While Jason and Cynthia work on their relationship and go in couple therapy the other couples are free to enjoy the Island's fun activities. After much arguing the couples all agree to go. When they arrive on Eden they are disappointed to learn that they all have to go through couple therapy which is not what they expected. The idea of sending four couples on an Island vacation mixed up with a few troubles here and there seemed like a somewhat enjoyable movie. Some moments were moderately funny and others came out to be not funny at all, I think some things supposed to make the audience laugh didn't work as thought out. I felt some parts of the movie dragged on and contributed to the movie receiving negative reviews.

It's not a horrible movie neither is it excellent, it's a little had to define and ranks somewhere between the two. It does have its fun parts that's for sure and some enjoyable moments but as far as this comedy go it's not really worth more than a rental. You could do a lot worse than rent this movie on a boring night but you could also do much better as well. I checked it out despite some negative reviews because I thought the cast was good and the story seemed good, I was curious about it. It's not all bad, it's certainly entertaining but I expected a little better to be honest. 2 and half stars for this one.